Another first...

And away from clothing and jewellery in to the world of knitting this time...a few friends have been suggesting that I should write up some of the knitting patterns I improvise so that others can get the opportunity to enjoy them. But, as is often the case, time and other things get in the way so it never gets started.

While I was knitting myself a new headband the other day (partly because I needed one, partly to use up some left-over sock yarn) I decided to test write up the pattern and see how it went. After all, it is quite pretty, and is probably a good length pattern to start with.

The design? A neat 2 stitch cable running up between two seed stitch columns. The edge deliberately doesn't have slipped stitches as I like the neat bumps the seed stitch gives, but anyone wanting a smooth edge could easily slip first stitch of each row instead.

 And where can you get the pattern? Ravelry of course, available for free download here

Moving on from paper...

After drafting and cutting the pattern pieces yesterday, today was the day to move on to cutting and sewing a calico mock-up of the coat to test both the pattern and the fit.

First task: lay out all the pattern pieces on the calico, and work out the most economical way to fit them on to the fabric. This is one of the things that a commercial pattern does for you as they usually provide a plan of where to lay the pieces, but it's a task I quite enjoy as a bit of a challenge. Once laid out all pieces are laid out it's time to pin and cut. 

Second task: the 'simple' matter of working out what order to sew the pieces together in, and doing said sewing. I'm pretty pleased with the result so far, although exactly how well it fits remains to be seen - I still need to draft and sew the sleeves before it can be tried on by the customer!

Developments...

Following on from finishing the ring (see prev. blog) one of my next main projects is a Frock Coat. Measurements have been taken on the customer it's for, and the outline design has been agreed (although a couple of small details are still being decided) so my job at the start of the week was to draft a pattern block based on those measurements.

Once the 'block' was done, it was on to first the interesting bit - creating the pattern pieces in order to cut and sew the toile (calico mock-up for fitting purposes). And there are quite a lot of pieces to this pattern jigsaw - 10 in total...

 

And now to cut out and sew the calico...